Primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem
Primary production is the fundamental source of energy to foodwebs and ecosystems, and is thus an important constraint on soil communities. This coupling is particularly evident in polar terrestrial ecosystems where biological diversity and activity is tightly constrained by edaphic gradients of pro...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:39fabe21dd6f4253b94b5cb58235ae2b 2024-01-07T09:39:58+01:00 Primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem Kevin M. Geyer Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach Michael N. Gooseff John E. Barrett 2017-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3377 https://doaj.org/article/39fabe21dd6f4253b94b5cb58235ae2b EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/3377.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/3377/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.3377 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/39fabe21dd6f4253b94b5cb58235ae2b PeerJ, Vol 5, p e3377 (2017) Microbial ecology Pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry Primary production McMurdo Dry Valleys Biogeochemistry Environmental gradients Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3377 2023-12-10T01:53:51Z Primary production is the fundamental source of energy to foodwebs and ecosystems, and is thus an important constraint on soil communities. This coupling is particularly evident in polar terrestrial ecosystems where biological diversity and activity is tightly constrained by edaphic gradients of productivity (e.g., soil moisture, organic carbon availability) and geochemical severity (e.g., pH, electrical conductivity). In the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, environmental gradients determine numerous properties of soil communities and yet relatively few estimates of gross or net primary productivity (GPP, NPP) exist for this region. Here we describe a survey utilizing pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) fluorometry to estimate rates of GPP across a broad environmental gradient along with belowground microbial diversity and decomposition. PAM estimates of GPP ranged from an average of 0.27 μmol O2/m2/s in the most arid soils to an average of 6.97 μmol O2/m2/s in the most productive soils, the latter equivalent to 217 g C/m2/y in annual NPP assuming a 60 day growing season. A diversity index of four carbon-acquiring enzyme activities also increased with soil productivity, suggesting that the diversity of organic substrates in mesic environments may be an additional driver of microbial diversity. Overall, soil productivity was a stronger predictor of microbial diversity and enzymatic activity than any estimate of geochemical severity. These results highlight the fundamental role of environmental gradients to control community diversity and the dynamics of ecosystem-scale carbon pools in arid systems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys polar desert Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles McMurdo Dry Valleys PeerJ 5 e3377 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Microbial ecology Pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry Primary production McMurdo Dry Valleys Biogeochemistry Environmental gradients Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Microbial ecology Pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry Primary production McMurdo Dry Valleys Biogeochemistry Environmental gradients Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Kevin M. Geyer Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach Michael N. Gooseff John E. Barrett Primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem |
topic_facet |
Microbial ecology Pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry Primary production McMurdo Dry Valleys Biogeochemistry Environmental gradients Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Primary production is the fundamental source of energy to foodwebs and ecosystems, and is thus an important constraint on soil communities. This coupling is particularly evident in polar terrestrial ecosystems where biological diversity and activity is tightly constrained by edaphic gradients of productivity (e.g., soil moisture, organic carbon availability) and geochemical severity (e.g., pH, electrical conductivity). In the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, environmental gradients determine numerous properties of soil communities and yet relatively few estimates of gross or net primary productivity (GPP, NPP) exist for this region. Here we describe a survey utilizing pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) fluorometry to estimate rates of GPP across a broad environmental gradient along with belowground microbial diversity and decomposition. PAM estimates of GPP ranged from an average of 0.27 μmol O2/m2/s in the most arid soils to an average of 6.97 μmol O2/m2/s in the most productive soils, the latter equivalent to 217 g C/m2/y in annual NPP assuming a 60 day growing season. A diversity index of four carbon-acquiring enzyme activities also increased with soil productivity, suggesting that the diversity of organic substrates in mesic environments may be an additional driver of microbial diversity. Overall, soil productivity was a stronger predictor of microbial diversity and enzymatic activity than any estimate of geochemical severity. These results highlight the fundamental role of environmental gradients to control community diversity and the dynamics of ecosystem-scale carbon pools in arid systems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kevin M. Geyer Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach Michael N. Gooseff John E. Barrett |
author_facet |
Kevin M. Geyer Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach Michael N. Gooseff John E. Barrett |
author_sort |
Kevin M. Geyer |
title |
Primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem |
title_short |
Primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem |
title_full |
Primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem |
title_fullStr |
Primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
Primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem |
title_sort |
primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3377 https://doaj.org/article/39fabe21dd6f4253b94b5cb58235ae2b |
geographic |
McMurdo Dry Valleys |
geographic_facet |
McMurdo Dry Valleys |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys polar desert |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys polar desert |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 5, p e3377 (2017) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/3377.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/3377/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.3377 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/39fabe21dd6f4253b94b5cb58235ae2b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3377 |
container_title |
PeerJ |
container_volume |
5 |
container_start_page |
e3377 |
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1787430304868204544 |